A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood

Fred Rogers was an icon of American children’s television, but unlike Sesame Street it’s not transferred to this country. But you don’t need to be aware of his programme—Mr Rogers’ Neighbourhood—to pick up the story. Mr Rogers dresses up in a cardigan and casual shoes and introduces his audience to a specific home in the miniature neighbourhood. And since the film is about an Esquire journalist who’s commissioned to write a short piece about national heroes. So the film begins with Rogers introducing his friend Lloyd, “Somebody has hurt my friend Lloyd - and not just on the face.” The Playschool-like formula introduces the journalist’s picture from behind a cardboard door. (I always hated when Playschool went outside!)

Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rees) is a journalist with a reputation for doing hatchet-jobs on his subject. He is shown injured because he’s gone with his wife and baby daughter to his sister’s wedding, and got into a fight with his drunken father. We go back to The Neighbourhood and see a Mr Rogers feature on magazines and how they’re made. Then to Lloyd’s real magazine and the commission, which he resents.

And so we have it: a cynical and literally beaten-down journalist and a beloved personality. Tom Hanks plays Fred Rogers and it’s possibly his most immersive performance to date. He begins the film by singing the song and fully inhabiting the character. But Vogel’s initial angle is that “Mr Rogers” is a character that Fred Rogers is playing for the benefit of his audience. But Fred Rogers had a reputation for niceness that evidently provoked disbelief in some, and the reputation of some beloved figures from 80s and 90s British TV sets up a wariness that isn’t there. Hanks’ Rogers is softly spoken, very measured in his words and movements, and unfailingly decent. Rogers shows concern for Vogel’s injury and genuinely gets to know the closed-off writer. And, just as it is for the kids, the magic works. The notion is that Rogers treats children’s feelings as being just as valid as adults and of course the film turns that on its head because we all know that adults have to deal with the same sorts of feelings: in this case anger and reluctance to forgive and move on… He tells Oprah (in one sequence where Hanks replaces the real Fred Rogers in an 80’s talk show - the other is with Arsenio Hall) that parents should remember their own childhoods when dealing with their children.

This isn’t a film for the cynically minded. Fred Rogers attained “hero” status (and denied it of course) for good reason and Tom Hanks is probably the finest American leading actor. It’s a fascinating film because even setting aside as much cynicism as possible you sometimes think that he’s going to show some sort of unexpected behaviour. But we’re informed that only Fred Rogers would talk to Vogel because the others evidently feared being destroyed in print, and that speaks to a great self-confidence that’s maybe the most interesting take-away for an adult audience (unless you have children!)

It’s a two-hander film that’s reminiscent of Rain Man: Dustin Hoffman’s performance is what people talked about and probably remembered most but the film also contains the best dramatic performance Tom Cruise has ever delivered. Matthew Rees has the emotional journey as he is forced to change personally and professionally. Chris Cooper plays Vogel’s father: an outwardly tough man who is evidently the focus of Vogel’s animosity. Ultimately the film demands that you watch it almost with the eyes of a child.